Chapter 1 questions
1. What do ethnomusicologists mean when they say, “Music is universal, but it is not a universal language”?
Music cannot convey specific meanings though specific symbols and it is questionable whether music can really can transcend linguistic barriers.
2. What are the potential problems in classifying music as “classical,” “folk,” or “popular”?
They assert a hierarchal value system in which classical is typically considered highest, folk of a much lower value, and popular at the lowest level.
3. How might an ethnomusicologist approach the study of Western classical music differently from a musicologist?
They would take into consideration their cultural context.
4. What is “fieldwork”? What is its importance to the study of world music?
Fieldwork is a first hand study of music in its original context, it allows us to travel to a specific area where there is musical curiosity.
5. In what ways does world music study require an interdisciplinary approach?
You have to look at it through all the different aspects.
6. What is ethnocentrism? Have you ever experienced it?
The unconscious assumption that ones own cultural background is “normal,” while that of others is “strange” or “exotic.”

Chapter 2 questions
1. Which of the four basic components of music is most helpful in identifying a world music tradition? why?
The most helpful way to learn to recognize a world music tradition is to become familiar with its media. In order to identify a specific medium, we must first become familiar with its characteristic timbre
2. Name at least three examples from each instrument category in the Sachs Hornbostel system. In which subcategories do these examples belong?
Aerophones require the direct vibration of air to produce sound. Three examples of those are flutes, reeds, and trumpets. Cordophones have one or more strings stretched between